With their initial crowd funding target of £35,000 now making its way into the history books, Crossed Anchors Brewery have completely surpassed all their expectations and are now a fully up and running 6 barrel brewery. And with two awards under their belt, the future’s looking promising.
At the launch party, a good number of the invited investors came down to find out exactly what they have helped to create, and of course to sample the resultant beer.
In their home at Exmouths Grapevine, which also incorporates Ruby Burgers, the three are a trio which offers everything.
Arguably the best burger joint ever to grace Exeter, Ruby weren’t a slouch when it came to beer either. Prior to their relocation, I knew of no other restaurant to offer Brooklyn Local 1. And I’m yet to find another, although, I do wonder where all THAT beer went after the move?
The Grapevine itself is a fantastic pub, a proper pub. With a good selection of cask beer, and a worldwide collection of bottles, you’ll be hard pushed to find something that won’t satisfy. On the bar today were two of Crossed Anchors offerings, Cascade SMASH Hopburst and Weisse Guy.
However, I was going to be drinking these from a different set of casks, namely the gravity casks in the brewery itself.
As Adrian receives his dose of Billy banana and Charlie clove, in the form of Weisse Guy, I’m instantly surrounded by an aura of Cascade aroma that’s just erupted from the slightest tweaking of the SMASH’s tap. It’s incredible, and it doesn’t stop there, I can feel the beer fizzing and tingling away along the sides of my tongue as it’s wholesome 3.8% wriggles its way deeper. This beer is fantastic, I think I’m gonna need a refill pretty soon.
Back in the pub, Paddy and Olly make their speeches, mainly to thank the people who have put in a lot of effort to help them get where they are today, and also to thank their wives for putting up with their endless beery wittering.
But, at the end of the day, just look where that support can get you. And you can do your bit too, by either visiting The Grapevine to sample some brewery fresh beer, or grab some bottles from various local suppliers such as Hops & Crafts, Darts Farm, Greendale and Joshua’s.
And watch out Bristol and Plymouth, the Anchors are coming for you!
Elstons Beer Blog 